¡Vámonos a la playa!

I love the city of Valencia! My friend Megan and I just spent a glorious weekend there. We experienced the paella, the parks, and the beach. To top it all off we had great weather and met some new friends at our hostel. Upon arrival, we were even greeted by some young, drunk French boys who asked us to sleep in their beds and later got in trouble with the police for spitting on passersby outside the hostel. Definitely a recipe for an interesting weekend!

Touring so many cities and going to museum after museum can get a bit repetitive. Lucky for us, we were able to spend the whole weekend laying in the grass and on the beach. There used to be a big river in Valencia but every year it would flood the city and so they decided to dry it up. Now it is a massive park that stretches from one side of the city to the other. The best part about the park is that there were no couples making out! I feel like every public place in Madrid is covered with people draped across each other in very passionate lip locks. Valencia was more family oriented with lots of small kids and dogs running around, definitely a breath of fresh air.

Speaking of fresh air, the weather in Valencia was beautiful. We spent Saturday exploring the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies, or the City of Arts and Sciences, designed by Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela. There is a Music Museum, Aquarium, Science Museum, IMAX theater and so much more. We sat in a plaza with a fountain that was choreographed to Disney music! We felt like we were in Disney World! We continued through the city and marveled at the architecture of the museums and the water features.

We stopped to have a picnic near a little pond where there were tons of dogs swimming! It was pretty entertaining to watch them chase balls and a little 2 year old boy even pulled off his shorts and waded in.

little boy "playing" with his dog

After admiring Calatrava's work, we headed for the beach! I was excited to wade in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, but dipping one toe in was plenty for me because it was pretty chilly. So we plopped down in the sand and let the warm breeze wash over us.

¡Hasta la próxima!

¡A mí me encanta Valencia! Es una ciudad hermosa y acogedora. Subimos los Torres Serranos para ver una vista panorámica de la ciudad. Podía ver algunos aspectos en la arquitectura de las torres que hemos estudiado en clase. Por ejemplo son hechos de sillares, piedras grandes y fuertes. También, las ventanas son muy estrechas. Nadie afuera puede ver dentro de la torre pero todos dentro pueden ver afuera. Las torres son cerca del rio para proteger y defender la ciudad.

Otra cosa interesante de Valencia es el español. Es diferente del español castellano pero en mi opinión el español castellano es muy común allí. Algunas señales y nombres de lugares son escritos en valenciana pero podía entender mucho de la lengua. En Barcelona no tenía tanta suerte y no podía entender casi nada de catalán.